A few years ago, my father (70 yrs old) began a relationship with a younger woman (44 yrs old), and after several months, she moved in with him, along with her teenage daughter. She was an immigrant from Colombia, here for asylum to escape from a dangerous situation her family was in back home. Her English was not quite good (my father is a native Spanish speaker), but she was very polite and nice.

After a few months, the truth came to light. Her “papers” were a forgery, so she was here illegally. She stopped sleeping in my father’s room, and made her home the other side of the house where her daughter’s room was (which was my childhood bedroom). She would sneak into my father’s home office looking for money and possibly papers to help her create a fake identity. She succeeded sometimes. She became extremely rude and verbally abusive to my father, and refused to move out when he asked her to. My father lived in half of his house, as this woman and her daughter took over the other half. They paid nothing to live there, and the police would not remove her, as she was now a legal resident, having been there for 60 days. My father began a life as a prisoner in his own home, but that didn’t last long…

1 day before the official “notice to leave” expired, the police arrived and kicked my father out - of his own house. Apparently, this woman went to the courthouse and claimed to be “abused by her boyfriend”, and was granted an order of protection against my father - without any proof whatsoever except her false verbal accounts. NYC law mandates that a court order must by honored, so the police apologetically told him that he must leave until they can resolve the dispute in court - the date given was three months later.

My father slept on my couch and his sister’s couch for that time, almost daily calling lawyers, courthouses, even the ICE, Customs and Homeland Security. His logic was, why is this woman permitted to steal the home of a lawful U.S. citizen in this way? She’s in the United States illegally, in possession of forged immigration papers, squatting in a home she does not own nor pay any utilities or rent for, while the rightful owner was forcibly removed by police because she lied to judges, knowing it would take months for that to resolve. Even the police and the judge who granted the order of protection said they’ve seen this before, and that they don’t even believe her, but court dates are set to sort it out - months later.

This dragged on, and federal authorities told me personally that not only could they not do anything immediately because of the immigration enforcement backlog to expel those committing felonies (drugs, murder, etc.), but that NYC is a sanctuary city and that they cannot even touch her without a long process to prove she is taking advantage of a senior citizen, because local law persists first. The advice I got from them was to continue with “local processes” and evict her legally in NYC Housing Court. I led the charge, helped my father financially to cover the costs of litigation and living, and eventually, she was lawfully evicted, about 3.5 months after my father was removed from his home, and about 7 months after he asked her to move out. When the court date for the order of protection came, it was quickly resolved as the judge was clear that it was all a ruse. Case was immediately closed, but the months of damage to my elderly father was done.

There was one time during this process where I entered my father’s home (I was allowed to of course) to put a padlock on his home office. I could hear in another room as this woman was on the phone with what sounded like her exhusband in Colombia. She spoke in Spanish, and what I could hear was that she told him something like, “I know my ways may seem bad, but I have to do what’s best for me, oh well” and then… she laughed. Yes, a very hearty chuckle. That proved it all for me. This woman was pure evil, with no regard for the feelings of an old person living alone looking for companionship. No regard for the hard-earned home and belongings of someone else. No regard for anything except herself and her daughter. After she was evicted, we were sure that she may try this someone else. The police said they cannot track her until she commits a crime, and of everything I described above, except for the forgery which is impossible to prove (since they’d have to find those papers), there was nothing anyone could do to stop her.

That is pure evil. It was proof to me that not all life is precious. Crimes such as murder are often of passion or fury. Other violent ones - spur of the moment. What this woman did was calculated, and she was immune to the emotional pleas of the victim and families affected. Because she is evil.

Word through the grapevine is that she lives in a 2 BR apartment people help her pay for, and works local jobs off-the-books. My father is still not the same since.

EDIT: I appreciate the words of support, we’ll be fine. There is so much more though that the comments touch upon. To address some…

I did collect very good surveillance of some things. For my father to use this, he would have to sue her for fraud, which would cost thousands in attorney and investigative fees, and could last years. If he won, he would collect nothing, because she is here illegally and has no wages to be garnished, nor any assets. My father conceded that it was not worth a long, expensive lawsuit that brings no restitution. He felt it better to just move on with his life and try and forget this ever happened.
In NYC Housing Court, my father was the plaintiff, so he had to come up with a lawyer to evict that woman. For her, she since she had no on-the-books job, she claimed poverty and got a lawyer for free.
In NYC Family Court, my father was the defendant in the domestic abuse case, so he had to get a lawyer. For that woman, she was given TWO attorneys courtesy of a women’s advocacy group that provides free legal representation for battered women. The attorneys were two young, man-hating women just out of law school, and they vilified my father in court. After it was over, my father was outside the courtroom and said he could hear back inside the judge telling these young attorneys that they “should be ashamed of themselves” for taking on that woman’s case. They were new grads trying to fill up their resumes with pro bono work.

A few days after being removed from his home by the police, my father went back to his house to get some clothes, as he only had the shirt on his back and he thought the woman wouldn’t be there. She was home, and immediately called 911. My father was arrested for violating an order of protection. I met with the arresting officer later, and he was agonizing over it. He said by law he had to because it is a crime to violate a court order. The officer was extremely nice, and gave me his cell number in case I wanted to ask how my Dad was doing. The officer would bring him snacks and sit and talk with him in the jail cell. My father doesn’t know, but I could see him from a corner on the far side of the police station. That was the most heartbreaking day of my life. But he was in jail only until evening, and he managed to regale it humorously over drinks that night. I know he was like that only to make sure I didn’t break down over it. He could tell the order was ripping me apart as much it was him.
It is pure irony that an illegal immigrant from Colombia was the one to take my father for a scam, because he himself is from Colombia, but he came to the US in the 1960s legally under a visa, and later became a US Citizen. However, to his credit, he did check her papers - they just happened to be fake, which she admitted to later. She said that they were produced straight from a Social Security Administration office in Queens, but that she would say no more because, “a lot of people would get in big trouble.” My father told this to the Assistant District Attorney, to the judges in NYC Housing and Family Courts. No one seemed to have interest in pursuing it. It was impossible to prove as all she had to do was hide the papers and say she made it up.